Kitchen Porn

The first thing that I started to buy in great quantities when we knew we were building our home were kitchen and bathroom magazines. (note to self, buy shares in kitchen & bathroom magazine publications!)

The one upside is that in a year or two I will have enough to start my log fire with 😉

I must admit that this area of the build has been probably one of the most painful ones.

Why? Because it will be the heart of our home, because I have a huge space (7m x 8m) to play with and to be honest, I don’t want to mess up and finally most kitchen companies won’t give up the time to create a render until you part with some money.

2D layouts are great, but when you are talking about parting with around $30,000 – $40,000 in one room, from my perspective I wanted to get a real feel of what my kitchen was going to look like and only a 3D render can do that.

I also didn’t want to commit to one company or designer by paying a deposit until I could see or get an idea what my kitchen would like like.

And herein lies the problem, as no kitchen company will do that for you.

I wanted everything and the kitchen sink and most companies told me that my budget was too small and that I would need to spend at least double from the initial consultation but wanted at least 10% often more upfront before they would do any renders

Except one. Peter Hay. I almost discounted them until I saw one of their kitchens on The Block. I’m not saying which team as I thought the individuals were horrid, but their kitchen was totally on point.

I had my consultation at the offices in Manukau with Brittany who went through what I wanted by way of layout, style, colours etc. We walked through their demonstration kitchens to get a feel too and she noted down what I liked, the finishes, accessories etc.

I came back the following week to see what she had come up with.

To say I was blown away with the renders is an understatement. Everything that I had asked for was there……and some. My kitchen will be fully Blum’d!

And the bonus? It was within my budget! Nothing more satisfying than mentally giving the naysayers who said my budget was too small the bird 🙂